


Reunion

by TheCrazyFriend



Series: Out of Time [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 22:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19094134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrazyFriend/pseuds/TheCrazyFriend
Summary: Please leave feedback!! How am I doing?





	Reunion

** Friday 3rd March 1989 **

“Max... You need to head to bed” Hopper called up the stairs to his blonde adopted daughter. They had been living together for so long that he no longer thought of her as adopted, just as his daughter. He loved her as he had loved Sara, how he loved Jane. He knew he would be lost if something was to happen to his beloved daughters which is why the man was in constant emotional pain, a pain caused by what had happened to his daughter, Jane and worse, that he was unable to do anything to protect her. She had gotten hurt because he was in danger, she had sacrificed herself for him and that was unacceptable to him as a dad. No child should have to sacrifice themselves to save their parent.  
“Sure, dad... Just give me a moment, I think I'm on to something” The bleached blonde was sat at a desk in her room, the room she shared with a curly haired brunette.  
The curly haired brunette in question sat motionlessly in her rocking chair mumbling a familiar refrain, “Rainbow. Kali. Mike. Eggos. Dad. Home. Maxxie. Girlfriend. Love.”  
“Huh?” Hopper had ascended the stairs and was leaned up against the door frame of Max’s bedroom, curious as to what his daughter had found  
“Leaked Hawkins National Laboratory files that made it to the front page” Max gestured to the newspaper cuttings spread all over her desk  
“Hm, wonder if The Party had anything to do with this?” Hopper mused. He and Max had been attempting to find someone, anyone who could help them restore the broken mind of the other girl who lived with them. Neither of them had any clue as to how to help and they were pretty sure that not even Doctor Owens would have answers. Since medicine had failed them, they would have to put their hopes in the fantastic abilities of those who had been hurt and abused by the very same Laboratory that had left Jane in the catatonic 'dream circle' state she was in. They could only hope that it wasn't like Terry Ives’ catatonic state, one that had been irreparably inflicted by physical brain damage  
“Almost certainly,” Max replied, rummaging around amongst all the paperwork. “Ah hah! Here it is, a list of missing kids, this one girl I believe she's in a photograph with Kali” Max held out a list of names of missing kids that she had compiled, a list of numbers matched to names of missing kids and a photograph for Hopper to take

Hopper took the paperwork and studied the list of names, comparing it to the list of names and numbers, of which there were only two, ‘Eleven- Jane Ives (Jane Hopper)’ and 'Eight- Kali Prasad'. He looked up from the list and turned his attention to the photograph, studying it. “You’re right, that's a younger Kali.” He acknowledged, then moved his gaze to the others in the photograph, noticing a much-younger Eleven as he did so. “Do you know anything about this other girl?” His finger passed over another girl, a blonde, and on to another. Having indicated which girl he was talking about, a black-haired girl that stood to the left of the photograph, slightly apart from the others and on the other side to Brenner, he furrowed his brow. The girl had caught both their eyes because she stood out from the others  
“Nope.” Max shrugged, “She has a tattoo on her wrist but she's not in a hospital gown like the others, like Kali, Jane and this other girl. I can't really read the number on her wrist but she’s in proper clothes, not a suit like Brenner nor a lab coat but some kind of uniform”  
 _Wonder what made her so different?_ Hopper pondered  
“There are at least another nine children out there” Max read out from the newspaper while staring down at the picture, “I think it's more likely to be ten or more.” She indicated the other girl who was stood next to Kali, on the other side to Jane. “One of which must be able to help El”  
“Hold up. This report...” he fumbled through them, “said experiments one to seven were considered to be failures and were eliminated, though I don't believe that, not entirely. If that's the case both these girls” Hopper indicated the girl in the uniform and the gown-wearing blonde, “are likely to be post Eleven. Twelve and Thirteen perhaps?” Max shrugged in reply, they didn't really know and were mostly guessing

Through the reinforced and armored walls of Jane's room, the father-daughter pair could hear the ramblings of the only other person in the house, “Rainbow. Kali. Mike. Eggos. Dad. Home. Maxxie. Girlfriend. Love.” An expression of hurt crossed Max's face as it did every time she thought about what had happened to her girlfriend, the fact that Jane had _lied_ to her was like an open wound for Max, even if it was to ensure her own survival. Max felt betrayed by her girlfriend, the old rule of friends don't lie, the law of The Party since its inception, had been broken by its most staunch believer, Jane.

“If this girl” Hopper once again indicated the uniformed girl in the black and white photograph, “was somehow involved in the lab’s evil wrongdoing, it's likely Kali would move to take her out” Hopper reasoned, ever the police chief. He didn't like it, the fact that there was a girl who looked to be treated differently, more decently than the others had been  
“Unless she knew that and hid herself well enough not to be found, like what we did.” Max countered. They had a lot of discussions that followed a similar structure, one of them would bring up a point regarding their current situation or even just something comparatively mundane like some decision George H. W. Bush had made in the few months he had been in office or the actions of the previous Reagan administration and the other would attempt to counter the point, going back and forth until they had thoroughly debated the subject. “Without Jane, it'll probably be harder for Kali to find anyone and aside from one road trip to Chicago and the time we went there, they didn't meet. We should focus on speaking to the other experiments, maybe they'll know where to find someone who can help since they could have all kinds of interesting powers, the ability to see the future, telepathy, teleportation. We should start with blondie here, maybe she'll be able to lead us to the others like uniform girl” since neither Hopper nor Max knew the blonde nor the girl in the uniform's names, they had concluded that ‘Uniform Girl’ and 'blondie' would suffice, they hadn't wanted to call them Twelve or Thirteen when they didn't know for certain, not to mention that both Max and Hopper had a natural aversion to using the numbers the lab tattooed on the children  
“Unless Uniform Girl was too powerful to be stopped, I'm sure that she must've been pretty powerful to work _for_ the lab” Hopper grunted, displaying his displeasure well enough for Max to know he is upset with how well that girl looked to be treated in comparison to Kali and Jane. His eyes had narrowed, he had spotted something that made him feel _really_ uneasy though he didn't voice it out loud to Max. “Or it might be in our best interests to avoid that girl. Could she be one of the later experiments? I think that the number on the girl’s wrist was Thirteen”  
“You’re right, dad, I don't feel good about that girl, something about her feels like it's bad news” Max conceded, leaning over and hugging him tightly. “This Thirteen thing is something for tomorrow, I'm going to bed so I'll see you tomorrow.” _Uniform girl must've been discovered later than Kali and Jane if she is indeed Thirteen_  
“Goodnight, Max” Hopper replied.

Max picked up her bottle of booze, finished it, lobbed the empty bottle toward the sink where it landed with a soft plop in the cold scummy water they had used to do the dishes earlier that day and retreated upstairs to Jane’s room where she kissed her still-absent girlfriend on the forehead and trudged over to her own bed. “Goodnight, sweetheart. I still think of you every moment of every day even if it doesn't seem like it.” The young bleached blonde woman smiled at her girlfriend, it had taken them a while to adapt to the new circumstances of their life, Jane being unresponsive to every kind of external stimuli and all. They had eventually figured a lot of stuff out by themselves with the smallest amount of help from a helpful local doctor, or at least a doctor from the next town over. They had refused to let him see Jane and had hidden their address from him, instead they gave him a fake address but knew from him it was likely to be brain damage. Other than that, medicine had failed them

Hopper meanwhile grunted and stood, he was thinking hard. Having cut back on the amount of alcohol he had been consuming before Jane was rescued he found it a helluva lot easier to think. He was simultaneously relieved and incredibly fearful that someone could be so powerful that the lab would seemingly just leave them alone once they escaped. Resolving to trawl through the newspapers that the local library had in their archive he moved to the doors and windows, checking each of them in turn before turning in. He was also admittedly worried about the amount of alcohol that Max was consuming, she had been drinking heavily since before rescuing Jane as if deep down she knew something was very wrong and had only reduced her alcohol intake by just over half since Jane was rescued from the evil scientists. Hopper sighed, clambered his way up the stairs and retreated to his own bedroom

** Saturday 10th April, 1988 **

“Steve?!” Dustin was the first of the party downstairs, he had been woken by Steve's yell and had immediately sprinted down the stairs in a panic, the lateness of the hour totally forgotten. What he saw as he skidded into the hallway left him with some confusion, the man and woman he had met almost a week beforehand at Hawkins Middle School were stood on Steve's doorstep. _What...? What are they doing here?_ Dustin had thought. Steve meanwhile had thought he had caught sight of someone familiar through the peephole in his front door, but it looked as if he had been mistaken. _How did they find us?_  
“Dustin, I’d like you to meet...” Steve trailed off, not knowing either the man nor the woman's names  
“Kali” the dark-skinned Indian woman provided with a faint smile. Dustin was immediately entranced by the older woman's purple hair, she looked every part the rebel she was.  
“I... I thought your name was Kaylee?” he finally managed to stutter  
“I'm sorry, I had to protect my identity.” The dark skinned girl replied cautiously  
 _That's... Weird_. Dustin was vaguely aware that the rest of the party had joined them with a sleepy Joyce bringing up the rear  
“Kali, is that name meant to mean something to us?” Robin asked quietly, running her hands through her hair to form her ponytail, evidently more awake than the others  
“Oh yeah right. Well can we come in?” she gestured around at her fellow gang members who had gathered around her, feeling slightly hurt that Jane hadn't told her closest friends about them. “This is my gang,” Kali explained, “my party I guess. Axel” she indicated the tall man she had been at Hawkins middle school with, knowing the younger party members would remember him from the tour. She then turned to introduce the three unfamiliar faces, a dark-skinned muscular man with scary eyes, “Funshine” another dark-skinned woman, “Mick” and finally a pale-skinned woman, “Dottie.” She smiled at Steve, “so gonna let us in, handsome?” she flirted despite watching Nancy with some interest  
“Sure” Steve gestured them in  
“Our final gang member is out by our truck, he’s having... Ah, butterflies” Kali glanced over her shoulder at the truck, concerned about the final member of her group  
“Why?” Lucas asked, his eyebrow raised as he took an aggressive position between the five strangers and his party, the Ranger in him urging him to protect his party  
“That’s for him to tell you, believe me, it's a story you’ll want to hear.” Kali sighed somewhat at the younger man’s aggressive posture. “We’re more connected than you think...” she began. “Once upon a time, there was this young Indian girl who was taken from her family”  
Already connecting the dots, Dustin and Nancy's eyes widened. “Holy... Shit” Nancy whispered, much to the confusion of Joyce, Will, Lucas, Jonathan, Steve and Robin  
“You're catching on quick, huh?” Very slowly, the young woman lifted her wristband and turned her wrist over to reveal the '008’ tattoo.  
“Holy shit!!! You're one of...!!” Dustin exclaimed  
“Yup,” Kali confirmed. “I am one of the experiments of Hawkins National Laboratory. My name was Eight”  
“Does that mean you have...” Steve asked quickly, concerned  
“Yup. I do have powers” Kali confirmed again, coupled with a swift nod. Dustin and the other boys gaped at her, amazed to be meeting another superhero. Or rather an antihero.  
“Do you know where El is?!” Nancy asked, ever the big sister  
Kali's expression became one of deep remorse and she shook her head. “No”  
“You don't know?” Dustin replied dejectedly. “Nobody knows where she is”  
“We have been looking for Miss Jane, I promise” Funshine spoke in his gentle voice which earned him a surprised glance or two. “Her and the other surviving experiments but without Miss. Jane”  
“Shirley Temple” Axel interrupted  
“Yes, without her, without El, we aren’t making as much progress as we had hoped”  
“Fuck!!” Dustin spat. “Does that mean Brenner has her?”

“Brenner isn’t involved in MKUltra anymore, since we almost have him” a voice spoke from over by the door, the gravelly male voice spoke with such conviction that nobody would dare disbelieve the owner of the voice, and as such all eyes slowly turned to see the newcomer. “Sorry I was late” he added  
The whole party took a double take, he looked like... _No way, it can't be_  
“Holy shit, dude!!”

** Monday 23rd May 1988 **

Max groaned. They had arrived at a motel and had just carried Jane in the back way, Hopper having picked the lock to gain entrance through a fire escape. They had paid, gone to their room, dumped their bags and then exited through the back door which also functioned as a fire escape. Max had taken the still immobile girl in her arms and stole a quick kiss, somewhat hopeful that it would help restore Jane back to who she used to be. Max had frowned at how light Jane had been, she had lost all the weight that she had gained while she had been living with Hopper and looked sickly thin. “Oh Elli, oh my poor Elli, what did that sick old bastard do to you?” Max cooed gently at Jane gently sweeping the hair out of her eyes as she spoke, hoping to get some, any reaction from the girl led before her, to no avail. “Shit!!” She hissed  
“Still no change?” Hopper inquired, Max's hissed swearing had been loud enough for the big man to hear  
“Nope. Square root of jack fuckin' shit” the bleached blonde replied wearily to the exhausted former police chief. “Whatever that fucker did to her, it seems permanent!!” Max was livid at how Brenner had abused the girl  
“Shit. Well, let's get some sleep, you go grab a shower and I'll set this bed up so it's safer for Jane”

Twenty minutes later Max sighed, pulling her hands through her bleached hair to remove the excess of water. She dried herself, pulled her pajamas on then left the tiny bathroom. “Christ. I've gotten used to our house, dad. That bathroom is tiny, it should have a shower in it and nothing else!!” Max quite liked grumbling about the poor quality of the motels they had spent a fair few nights in  
“I know, maybe you can help Jane with a wash?” Hopper asked cautiously, he didn't want Max to think she was doing all the work even though he was on his knees having removed the legs from one of the beds so that Jane would be safer that night. He had the room next door and he knew Max would take the other bed  
“Sure, dad. There is a small tub in the bathroom” Max nodded quickly, appraising how quickly Hopper had been able to take the bed apart

Max took Jane into the bathroom where she carefully lowered her into the water, the temperature just perfect for the immobile girl. Max slowly lowered her into the water but the girl showed no sign of noticing, still muttering her repeated set of words. Miserably, Max quickly started bathing Jane, the girl unable to do anything to help herself while Max blushed slightly. It wasn't how she had imagined meeting up with Jane again, but she knew that Jane was safe, and in all honesty that was enough for her. “I love you, Elli”

** Sunday 10th April 1988 **

“Mike!?” Dustin had exclaimed. The familiar mop of black hair still covered the young man’s eyes though he had matured and had clearly gotten stronger. A gun was visible in a holster on his hip.  
“Hey, Dustin. Long time no see” Mike replied, hanging back by the door nervously  
“Holy shit, it really is you...” Nancy moved closer then started whacking him. “You asshole, Michael Wheeler!!” she yelled while trying to fight the tears that ran down her cheeks.  
“I'm sorry, Nancy...”  
“I thought you were dead!! We all thought you were dead, me, mom, Holly, Will, Dustin, Lucas!! We didn't know if you were alive or dead” she cried and repeated, not bothering to mention Ted Wheeler since that asshole never really cared about Mike

“Mike...” a vulnerable voice whispered  
 _Will!!_ Mike spun around and wrapped his lanky arms around the smaller boy who was pale and shaking. He had gained some more height since Mike had seen him last.  
“You... You promised me” Will whispered, looking down at the floor and not meeting Mike’s gaze, tears having built up in the corners of his eyes  
 _I promised...? Oh. Shit._ “Will, I'm so so sorry, Hop called me as soon as we ended the radio. The bad men were coming for Max, El and I. We had to flee, immediately”  
“I understand, I forgive you”  
“So what have you been up to, Mike?” Dustin needled  
“We ran, met this bunch” he indicated the gang, “and ran a little more, ended up being ambushed by Brenner. El was taken and Hopper and Max disappeared off who knows where”  
“El was taken?” Will parroted back  
“Yeah... She was taken the day after we all fled. Brenner set a trap for us, smashed our car. By the time I woke, we were back with Kali while El had been taken to the lab. Max and Hopper left for parts unknown and I joined Kal's gang”  
“So you have no idea where Max nor Hopper are?”  
“Sadly not. We've been trying to find out where Eleven is. We set fire to the lab the other day but... She wasn't there, Max and Hopper are under deep cover but if we find El then we'll find them.”  
Will nuzzled his best friend, relieved to finally see him again. “Mike... Will you stay?” he asked quietly, timidly  
“I'm sorry Will, I can't stay for long. The bad men are after us. Kali is one of the experiments after all” _That and we've killed a fair few of them_  
“Oh”  
“Sorry, Will. But if it makes you feel better, I promise I'll come back”  
“Really? You'd do that for me?”  
Mike nodded and kissed Will's cheek. “Of course. I love you”  
“I love you too, Michael Wheeler” and from that moment on, everything was okay in Will’s world, for the time being at least.

Mike smiled widely and started a retelling of the few years he had been with Kali's gang, partially on the run and partially striking out at the bad men and attempting to bring them all to justice. He launched into a tale of sadness and betrayal that slowly morphed into a tale of six outcasts attempting to find their way in a cruel world that had forsaken them and that routinely attempted to kill them for who they were. It took a long, long time to explain the story and Mike retold most of it by himself with only the occasional input from the other members of the gang. His audience gasped, cried and cheered in all the right places while Kali provided the majority of additional input and took over entirely once Mike had finished speaking at six in the morning. She explained her power, her escape and how she met each of the gang, then described the day she had spent with El at a greater depth than the rest as she knew that The Party would want to know how she met Eleven. It was almost an hour later, seven in the morning by the time Kali finished talking and since the members of The Party would have to go to work soon, Joyce had a shift at Melvalds, Steve and Robin would have to head to Scoops Ahoy, Will, Dustin and Lucas needed to get to school and Kali's gang needed to get back on the road, they had to say their goodbyes. Mike and Will were both a bit teary-eyed as they said their goodbyes and, way before they were ready, it was time to part ways. “I love you” were the last words the two boys exchanged simultaneously

** Saturday 14th May 1988 **

“Fuck me” a tall and muscular young woman with long blonde hair stood in her pajamas in the center of her apartment, it was five in the morning and she was already wide awake. She rubbed one scarred wrist, thankful of the anonymity granted by the hordes of people surrounding her in the bustling city of New York, she appreciated not having to worry about making special efforts to hide herself since the city was bustling enough to provide natural protection. The woman who was in her early twenties and older than Jane but younger than Kali, at most only a few months separated the blonde from Kali. She rubbed the palm of her hand over her face, squashing her nose out of shape with the force. The young woman dropped down on to her hands and the balls of her feet to began her daily routine with a thousand push-ups, ensuring that everything was where she left it the night before as she lifted herself up using only one of her arms.

The woman finished her push-ups, having been doing that for many many years it took her less than a half hour to complete the full thousand and she considered that taking it easy, barely breaking a sweat. Having completed the first part of her morning routine she stepped into the bathroom for a cold shower then pulled on comfortable clothes and stepped outside of her apartment. She didn't really have any plans for that day other than to visit the hall she used for training so took what was for her a leisurely stroll down to her favorite spot in the entire city, a spot that was on the other side of the city from her apartment. A leisurely stroll for her was a jog by anyone else's standards, she had to make very little effort on top of what she was already doing to keep herself in tip-top condition, in fact the young woman didn't remember a time when she hadn't begun her day with at least a thousand push-ups and more often than not a lot more besides. Once she had arrived at her favorite spot in one of the many parks New York City had to offer, the woman pulled a cell phone out of her bag, a pre-release phone she had gotten from a friend, and the young woman dialed a number then held the device to her ear.

A few moments later after listening in silence she slipped the device back into her bag and moved over to her favorite news cart. She greeted the older woman who stood there and picked up her newspaper, freezing as she read the first page. ‘Young woman found in remnants of infamous Hawkins National Laboratory?’ she mouthed the words considering how close she was stood to a stranger. “Well, well, well. Doctor Brenner is up to his old tricks again, is he?” The woman scoffed, laughing a dark laugh and walked away from the bemused woman who had sold her the newspaper.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave feedback!! How am I doing?


End file.
